READING THE BIBLE AGAIN for the FIRST TIME by MARCUS BORG         I like what Borg attempts to do: make the Bible sensible to people who have given up on that possibility. Perhaps this is not his avowed purpose, but it is what he does. He takes scholarly issues and simplifies them for those not trained in the language of scholars. Rabbi Harold Kushner says, “This book removes many of the barriers that separate thoughtful people from the wisdom of the Bible.         Peter J. Gomes says that this book “Takes the Bible back from the specialists and makes it available to the thoughtful reader in all its complexity and splendor: nothing short of a blessing, even a miracle!”         Throughout my career as a practicing pastor/teacher, I have attempted to build the bridge between a modern scholarship view of the Bible and a commonly held folk-view that was essentially literalistic. Part of the problem is to bring the Christian community into the 20th (now the 21st) century with respect to what is commonly known and believed by the main stream of biblical scholars. The other part of the problem is to reach people who either had no contact with the Bible, or who had given it up as nonsense in a modern world.         As Borg puts it, helping people to “take the bible seriously but not literally.”          Borg teaches undergraduate courses in religion at a State University. His writing reveals thoughts no doubt refined in years of lectures to students from all backgrounds. Clarity is accomplished. In addition to teaching at the University, Borg takes his programs on the road. He is typically out of town 100 days a year, speaking to churches, clergy and other groups. Not just speaking, but teaching.          For my money his core teachings are found in three books: “Meeting Jesus Again For the First Time,” “The God We Never Knew,” and “Reading the Bible Again for the First Time.” I would recommend these three as books any layperson could readily understand.          One of the really helpful aspects of “Reading the Bible,” is that the reader gets a condensed introduction to the core content of the Bible. It’s worth the read just for that. From the Creation Story, through the main sections of the Hebrew Bible (Old Testament), the Gospels, Paul and Revelation, the contents of the Bible gain clarity.         Another most helpful part of the book (Part One) is Borg’s presentation of three reading “lenses,” or ways of seeing the Bible. This is important because he helps people see why “old lenses” give us problems that tend to turn us away from biblical faith. His “lenses” offer hope of seeing the Bible again, especially if we have given up such hope.         In his epilogue Borg leaves us with these words: “So these three, I am suggesting, are at the core of the biblical vision of life with God: a sacred Mystery at the center of life, with whom we are to be in a conscious relationship and who is passionate about the well-being of the whole creation. We are called to participate in the passion of God… “From these three core elements flows a remarkably simple vision of the Christian life…I prefer to  think of it as the ‘great relationship,’ and I thus paraphrase it as follows:  “The first relationships is, ‘Hear O Israel: the Lord our God, the Lord is one; and you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind, and with all your strength.’ This is the great and first relationship. And a second relationship is like it: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ On these two relationships depend all the Law and the Prophets.” (p. 301)         Borg includes extensive notes at the end of each chapter. They are well worth reading.         I recommend this book to religious seekers. I even recommended it to the two Mormon Missionaries. They dutifully wrote the name of the book on their note-pad. I doubt that those who are absolutely sure of their faith foundations will read such a book. It is a book for people who are curious about whether that dusty black book on the shelf really has any sense left in it for the modern age. — Art Morgan, Summer 2001